balancing acts performers dazzle their way through obstacles including walking on a rope bridge and dancing on tall stakes don't try this at home. the goal was to complete the different challenges in the shortest possible title the contest has been gaining in popularity in recent years. with all the. soldiers and. that's the latest from the news american evan stand join me at the top of the hour with a news update thanks for watching. and i'm jake the brand new delusion born in the poconos this procedure is divisive destructo place that affects us all on a solution climate change and the return of. only recent checkout.

i slept through the fall of the berlin wall. never been here on new but in the fall of the berlin wall didn't surprise me if i'd known it would happen 10 years before. on cue i am sitting in this chair. dad to be no repetition of

$56.00. you don't learn to make revolutions. i miss that class. template on one man yet i mean i don't know how many people right now would be happy if the iron curtain were dismantled today like it was 30 years ago. today and i can make.

the wall was not a purely german affair it was 7000 kilometers long and divided europe from the arctic to the black sea our journey starts on the baltic coast and leads by a good dance again eastern poland to warsaw berlin and leipsic. then we had to prague and some villages in bohemia and then on to vote have passed on the border crossings and it was. our journey ends just short of the black sea in bucharest we begin in the old good dance shipyard. the fall of the wall began 500 kilometers from berlin and a good dance and this hangar built before the 1st world war to store torpedoes the funny to see this. in a conspicuous building really doesn't look like

a place that made world history here in the summer of 1980 after an 18 day long strike is where solidarity was born. solidarity poland's 1st independent trade union began here at what was then called lenin shipyard a busy operation even today solidarity still has its european headquarters right in the middle of the yard. this is where we meet let through is as big nations has ever even the former shipyard workers t.-shirt is a statement aimed at the current polish government its constitution it says. lead solidarity went on to win the nobel peace prize and became the 1st democratically elected president of poland. you know i grew up without a father. he would have taken care of me. and i would probably have become

a director of the shipyard and not just a worker. but i had what it took. so i became an electrician but one who fought the managers and became famous. and now you wonder was that a good thing or a bad thing it is the way it is no because in 1981 said join the workers' strike and quickly became their leader. they were protesting against unachievable quotas empty shops and hazardous working conditions. after 18 days the communist government caved in. this is about when surrounded by communist functionaries the only one without a tie or party membership but with nerves of steel and his giant penned sign the agreement. the ordinary workers had won it was a sensational victory the monolithic party would now have to share power.

and one officially declared the strike over the assembled world press cheered. solidarity the 1st free trade union in the eastern bloc was born thanks. but. feel technically we had solidarity brought about the fall of the wall. but the whole world leaders at that time. had seen that communism was coming to an end. it is the time was simply ripe for change though margaret thatcher and chancellor kohl presidents reagan and maternal and the pope were all working in their own way to bring down the iron curtain 1st british mist and that's what we managed to to provide you the mornings and what was your role i joined

them. give a program about. the year before for the 1st time in history a paul had also become pope. john paul the second's words do not fear if you want to change your life acted like a wake up call. when the pope visited his homeland 10000000 people turned out to see him. first the era of communism was coming to an end thanks in part to solidarity. by him too much but today's poland is deeply divided in spring 2019 solidarity celebrated 30 years of the round table another democratic polish agreement with this container in front of its door but there were no congratulations from the national conservative government it was busy helping people like farmer albert but left ski. we are now in eastern poland where most people are churchgoers with big families. here and sheppey

a total of village of 2000 inhabitants everyone votes for the governing conservative party piece. they keep their promises says boo lecky which is new for poland and that starts with the piglets love the good olive bend that was. part of the i voted piece in 2015. i will continue to do so because i believe they will do everything they can to keep the villages in poland strong. policy. soon the value of a pig will increase to $100.00 slutty. the 1000 pigs like the blood left skis have this is the equivalent of $25000.00 euros for this farming family but the peace government isn't just a boon for animal rears the famous family $500.00 plus program brought them to power in 201-5500 slahi a month for the 2nd and every consecutive child this is what the catholic farmers

like and it's helped many people get off their knees as they say in poland and that's not saying we notice it in our pockets we use this money for our children's benefit for extra lessons or private lessons and holidays yeah the hours that us. record c.m. . the money from the state which itself receives many subsidies from the european union has made their lives easier but the blood less skis are no longer grateful for the fall of the iron curtain. they believe their old hero. betrayed them by entering into a pact with the communists oh no not when the winds i was president he invited foreign investors to poland during that time to trash it that was perhaps the order of the day back then but there was too much of it too much of poland was being sold off. fortunately the peace party put a brake on it sure poland's capital warsaw is a city of global corporations and skyscrapers

a typical big metropolis anyone who was last here when the iron curtain came down certainly wouldn't recognize the city now. so we asked by one so what he thinks of all the german carmakers chinese banks and american business consultants . has poland sold out. first and this is another world it's an open world. where anyone who has the initiative and money and power can take what he wants. and that's no good. there are no rules. after a 100 years it'll probably settle down or 3. back in. there's an agricultural exhibition the state doesn't pay subsidies for horses yet but it does for cattle. places like this are a celebration of rural poland. a bit less keys are proud of poland's new prosperity

and that it can compete with europe at least in the agricultural sector. although they both conservative they can still take the united europe they live in today for granted a huge change from 30 years ago. the establishment of a trade union and the port city of good done school was the 1st domino that gradually brought down the wall between east and west. next stop berlin which was then still a divided city and then like the birthplace of east germany's peaceful revolution. little remains of the berlin wall just a few bits of art in some patches of grass. these men were born in the g.d.r. and played a part in the walls demise on the left. and east german journalist who was in exile in west berlin ensured that the protests in the east made the news on the right is on the cost who demonstrated for freedom when it was still very dangerous for this

condition it wasn't a gift it was what the people achieved the people managed to overthrow a dictatorship we can be proud of that we can build on that the small problems we have today are nothing compared to that. for free but photography. as a post from leipzig he sees things very differently he documented the collapse of the system in east germany and his pictures remind us of just how quickly german unification occurred and how it was rather like a surrender of the east. the west wasn't interested in learning from the east or taking anything over the citizens of the g.d.r. lost their jobs and the ground beneath their feet. you know that we ourselves no longer had any confidence in the east west german milk was better than east german milk same thing for sugar and the same for people as well. hordes of west germans swarmed in with their not always welcome cultural differences beauty pageants were

banned in the g.d.r. but one took place just 2 months after the fall of the wall in leipzig as adama's. at the time i was shocked how a body could be exploited by capitalism who would be company to list this for be up to 2 minutes. when he said you know what when i look at it today the photos seem like an allegory of the downfall of the g.d.r. . the phone was issued the women made themselves beautiful and gave their all. and then a jury stupid dumb fat guys lots of the gars. somehow gave them marks. was originally the paths of the 2 men crossed at the crucial demonstration on monday october 9th of just a month before the berlin wall fell rhythm of. the

beat of friends of mine took great risks to take the pictures i had smuggled video cameras over into the g.d.r. and these friends went to lumps of sugar off the stasi and climbed up the church to our. best chef was one of john's risk taking friends he shows us the church tower and the camera he used. he'd been secretly filming for west german t.v. and was used to playing cat and mouse with the stasi but the night he climbed the tower of the church in leipzig mark to see change in the protests in east germany as the city became the torchbearer of a peaceful revolution. it was very impressive to see some 70000 people going by down there all of them peaceful but frightened. and we were up here. it was scary just as windy as it is now and it was also raining or talk about goose bumps in the whole it's all fronts but i soldiered and tanks were massing on the

side streets the g.d.r. was on the brink of civil war both isn't the whole host the stasi were watching the demonstration from the roof of that building there so not far away it's now a department store it was. their biggest worry was whether they were actually catching anything on film the stasi were so close they didn't dare hold the camera properly and they don't love and. beauty i thought if we could see them they'd see us up here and at some point my partner stuck chewing gum on the light because we thought they'd see it and think what are they doing up there. you got what i was even 65 metres up and they could hear what the crowd was shouting law was. we are the people was it

became the slogan of the revolution was was. i was going for some reason we had been pushed all the way to the front of the crowd which wasn't the plan. so began the beginning of the demo we had all linked arms we had seen this in the movies and thought that's how you did it those moms all but after a while we realized that the police and soldiers weren't intervening. and you come to. this anger because they let us pass. but 1st they needed to get the footage to west germany to hand over was at the revolving door of a hotel as he said it's a concept as soon as i got my hands on the video cassettes and i transferred them to a format we could broadcast and if they just knew when i saw the pictures. tears came to my eyes. because i knew it was the end of the g.d.r. and. here are the day's news. the next day

the pictures from the church tower were all over the news. leipsic was closed off to journalists the $70000.00 demonstrators couldn't have known that foreign teams were capturing them on tape. one of the 1st to fall from power was the man who inhabited this sweet mika head of state security he could never have imagined that the whole world would now walk into his empire the safe at the back is where he kept incriminating documents about east german leader elie hanukah today it's empty. when you see his rooms you realize how symbolic all of this was the visitors from 40 countries came to express their admiration for the germans for managing to overthrow a dictatorship for overcoming their fear there was a sign for the whole world

a symbol of hope. don yon is now the custodian of the old stasi files he takes us into the basement where they stretch for miles and miles. germany saved most of the g.d.r. secret dossiers and has made them accessible to victims in a way that is unique in the world. also appreciates that the old east german spies received no pardon from the united germany but a lot has gone wrong in the last 30 years many in the east still feel disadvantaged and it took far too long to realize that the east also had its own brand of xenophobia right wing extremists. who says the 1st they said we are the people. and then it was we are one people up to that point maybe it was all ok. but when we are one people warped into foreigners out. then

it wasn't ok. go on with. germany may no longer have a wall yet still not really united but did anyone really expect that to happen in one generation. our next destination is the czech republic we started in the capital prague and make a detour to the town of friedland's and bohemia. prague has flourished in the last 3 decades and it's impossible to escape its beauty every day crowds jostle on its famous charles bridge. the charles bridge is a constant hub of activity day and night tourists take at least 100000000 selfies a year here the czechs can be proud of all they have achieved in the last 30 years especially here in the capital but who actually owns all this splendor. even with

all this splendor there's still a lot of dissatisfaction among the. population. we find out why from someone who was here 30 years ago in the early days of the new republic. he was the closest companion of. the 1st president after the fall of the iron curtain. both came to power unexpectedly one had been in exile the other under house arrest neither of them were politicians. you were really amateurs of course we were. everything i've done in my life i've been an amateur. you don't learn to make revolutions. has seen many rulers in its time but the constellation that moved into prague castle in 1909 was quite unique. the 12th.

the president and playwright for years. so the prince decided to go into politics and serve him. the duo ran the new republic in its 1st 2 years. even today shots and is still a respected voice in the czech republic. his word counts he's a wealthy man who could hardly be accused of harboring socialist sympathies. but he believes too much property in the czech republic has been sold off to horner's. that means banks and financial institutions and large parts of industry are no longer in the hands of local companies but in the hands of the germans dutch french koreans and japanese. understands the anger checks achieve a lot but earn little. a large part of the revenues are going to parent companies

abroad and that's starting to annoy people here. our journey now takes us into the czech countryside the imperial general object time occupied the castle of friedland in the 17th century and the brewery there has been making beer for 700 years. and his staff work all day in the old vaults built by the great general the crates are still emptied in the bottles washed and refilled by hand everything is still fairly improvised at 1st the boss filled the bottles himself back then 7 years ago they were just a team of 2 and they believed they could get the brewery back on its feet. now there are 17 of them and soon it'll be 50. has a problem that many others would envy him for his breweries doing too well and he's desperately looking for staff. mark supplies his regular customers across rural

bohemia himself. it's a beautiful area but the people who live there still feel neglected and vote in right wing populist politicians. mark has a kindred spirit here. pastor pavol also loves baroque history and beer sometimes they feel ashamed about their fellow citizens recently pavol hosted 50 novice priests from the vatican for a month at the pilgrimage site of high nature but many locals believe the visitors were refugees which caused a scene when he took them to a soccer game it ended. an old man got irritated and insulted my students jelling them to go home the migrants nowhere else on their trip to europe did they get a reception like that the focus is just. that if we are actually familiar with foreigners in the czech republic but it's different here and. there are many which

causes misunderstandings some people in the village can't tell the difference between vatican offices and the flood of migrants they've seen on t.v. . marc valvo was among those unhappy with the way things were going so he joined a new political movement that promised to change everything for the better. we also see imo i joined i know the action of dissatisfied citizens 3 years ago. at that time we were all hoping for a new start without the burdens of the past and the old political camps. but there's not much left of that new start now it's as if the whole country has jumped back 30 years. all over the czech republic hundreds of thousands of people are taking to the streets on oh now forms the government with its leader andre bobbish as prime minister. but he of all people is suspected of having pocketed millions of illegal funds and obstructing investigations. the memory of his repeatedly invoked

as a prime example of decency during the demonstrations his old friend agrees. we have an kleptocratic regime instead of an authoritarian one but that is not very gratifying either. this is far removed from. the ideas that drove the revolution of 1909. seems to be on the brink of another upheaval perhaps the citizens will soon be able to shake the dissatisfaction that permeates the country. where world history was once made. comes to an end it was a 4 metre high razor wire fence snakes through the farmland the balkan route which

used to be the main route into the e.u. for refugees has been blocked off. it's a sad irony of history that hungary which was the 1st country to dismantle the border fortifications to allow refugees to reach safety and freedom was in 2015 the 1st country in europe to rebuild its border fortifications like the. on the border with serbia. cutty book which takes us to the e.u. southern border to the no man's land between hungry and serbia in fact you're not supposed to go there at all but conti has already overcome quite different obstacles she was here in 2015 when the wave of syrian refugees arrived. after the fact is that now i remember the masses of refugees here at the border we've heard about the problems in budapest but we used donations to buy several 100 tents and blankets but the nights in september were already quite cold. and i don't

show up to 5 that upshot. it wasn't easy to get past the armed border guards. help the refugees to pitch their tents so they wouldn't have to sleep in the open air many had ruined feet from the long trek she says nothing had been done to help them. 30 years ago on the hungry austrian border it was a different picture with different refugees. it was always all the press clapping and we're here hard to believe it's the iron curtain finally opened at the border post where the 1st 500 east germans managed to escape to the west today the post is in the middle of a forest. border guard commander was on duty there on august 1989. neighbors from both sides of the border met there that day to eat goulash and take pieces of the border fence home as souvenirs of the so-called pan-european picnic.

suddenly the east germans came out of the cornfields in an escape attempt they planned long before bella had only 4 men with him but they were armed they could have prevented the escape. fortunately there wasn't much time for hesitation. people cover their 120 meters in about 20 seconds and that's how long i had to make a decision. people called him a hero. and that's only half true i don't feel like a hero not at all. but what is true is that we looked away and then turned our gaze towards austria so we wouldn't see what was going on behind our backs. the refugees were exhausted but happy as if they'd arrived in the promised land come through its asian embassy and we still feel a little stressed out by all the to and fro ing and all the people but we're free

and we're happy we made it. and so i can't believe i'm here i just got off the bus i'm shocked wrong and crossed over here. this man helped make their escape possible miklos nemat became prime minister of the still communist hungary in 1908 shortly after taking office he decided to disarm the country's border fortifications. was close to an obese hunger he was bankrupt that time i am sitting in my room. no pleasure really where you could see all the scum. in the 1989 budget he found a large sum earmarked under a secret code so i you mediately big phone and called up the interior minister. and he told me that the cease. the

sum for the refurbishment for derry new will over the fence between hungary and austria and what did you do then then i deleted girls that big song out of the budget it was the 1st crack in the iron curtain the news spread around the world. today hungary has begun to dismantle the border fortifications with austria that have stood for 40 years several kilometers of electronic alarms and barbed wire have been torn down all the alarm systems on the long border between hungry and austria are due to be dismantled by the end of 1990 about sun all of them noted what was going go. and no. no can go on my daughter of the so bent on soviet them best suited to budapest protesting what what do we.

know telephone call from mosco in fact never had cleared the move with soviet leader mikhail gorbachev in a 20 minute phone conversation that went on for 2 hours gorbachev said until i am sitting in this chair that if he'll be no repetition of 56 which is not a reverse was a clear cut message that may close. your hands. and the more. now the fences back to keep out a whole new wave of refugees the hunger in government is exploiting the fear of migrants to further its domestic agenda. i don't know how many people right now would be happy if the iron curtain were dismantled today like it was 30 years ago. that. she may well be right many hungry and think like this ice cream man

in the border town. we didn't know what was going on at 1st. we didn't know who these foreigners were when they got to get in to get the guy. but then more and more came and we got scared especially for our children because we didn't know what the refugees intentions were. it's an irony of fate but the refugees and all the hustle and bustle of the border brought him a lot of trade this season will now be his last. final stop. the romanian revolution in december 1989 was anything but peaceful. don benet was at this barracks talk about when the country's hated rulers the ceausescu's were put on trial. when there was

a young prosecutor then and cross-examine them here 30 years ago. we were shooting with. feel the same here now as i did in december 99 it is a strong feeling of freedom that we had finally got rid of the dictatorship that cast a shadow on our lives for so long most of the day but. the trial lasted only 50 minutes and the verdict was delivered. in the name of the thief will we unanimously condemn nikolai and elaine that ceausescu to death. this is. the such as schools a dictator has when you think about all his mechanician for me only one accusation came into question that crimes against humanity. and there was only one penalty for

that. you know chill of the flesh and political when it. there would be no reprieves and no appeals were executed immediately a short trial did put a stop to the shootings on the street the number of people killed in romania had already risen to a 1000 and images from bucharest were circulating around the world everywhere else the revolutions had been peaceful but the party in romania was desperately clinging to power by all means and a 2nd guard was already on standby. this report came shortly before the ceausescu's were executed. and i need to prove this hundreds have reportedly died in gun fights in bucharest alone who are supporters of ceausescu especially his security police that have occupied buildings and are still firing on soldiers and civilians and this is all done locals are showing the soldiers where they are hiding shooting from rooftops balconies and sellers will still. be

difficult the population has to seek shelter from the snipers in doorways and a french television journalist was crushed to death by a tank. night of it arrived in bucharest only a few hours earlier so $200.00 ariens were also shot dead by members of the security forces they had tried to bring aid to romania on their own bread for the soldiers for the. students in particular are bringing in food and medicine there is little help for the many thousands of severely wounded even in hospitals and there's a shortage of blood reserves it's different romanian t.v. says the number of wounded is huge medical staff have been asked to help the army has brought in reinforcements and romanian airspace has been closed loop or to shout. prosecutor done for neda shows us the bullet holes of the ceausescu's where stood against the wall he defends their execution to this day but he's also still

waiting for a real fresh start. janetta cheer the new generation should finally follow their feelings and build the rule of law for which young people of their age gave their lives back then it got a ship and through that it's also your 2nd if you cut in any that was today's rulers the so-called social democrats have repeatedly crushed demonstrations for the rule of law. august 2800 sub bloody street fighting. the i've. since then there have been constant protests on book arrests victory square. this time it's actors theater employees and artists speaking out against the government's drastic cuts to funding for culture. actor to me true who runs booker us national theatre is one of

them his son andre who is a politician and businessman is with him. he on isn't just a well known actor but he was also one of the insurgents who announced the victory of the revolution on television in december 1909 i got a cool automat there she was they had come straight from jail she needed a woman who does an awful lot of that's going to hold us it was really not not serious with. today he feels the revolution has been let down. she said timmons i think. it's disgusting wish to see our rulers arbitrarily pick up changing the law that. would do such a symptom and they'll do anything to escape punishment and keep the money they steal it's only us a little bit that's no refund for. loot in brussels i wish we were finally living

in a clean country is that he must still be said that it will try to put up to. be on son andre explains. there's a lack of infrastructure and romania has the fewest motorways in europe. the funds for their developments have often disappeared into private pockets. andre thinks this is just one example of many. northeast us that 95 percent of the money is distributed to the governments party friends to mayors and companies close to the party who would if you made the money is practically stolen by the church a very simply for its. back to bucharest party on runs the national theatre and still performs himself. if he does as the government wants they'll have to dismiss 52 of his staff in the next few weeks he says this sort of behavior reminds him of the chaps rescues dictatorship. it was just up the current situation. is nothing

new she's just the unscrupulous continuation of communist habits. good to local beast. donvan am often visits the cemetery in bucharest with the victims are buried most of them were under 30 school kids students and workers many of the killers still haven't been identified. central put such as david there is still no justice for all these young people who were murdered in december 1989 with. the wounds of communism and the bloody revolution 30 years ago in romania are far from healed. this is where we end our journey through europe that is no longer divided but still not really united the journey of 4000 kilometers without a visa without border controls from north to south.

not everything has worked out that's beyond dispute. but nobody on our trip still really wanted the old iron curtain back. to you on this one we went to the bakery the next day the atmosphere was very odd people were somehow different how relaxed this fuse what we noticed it straight away with but we didn't know why so we asked the baker's wife what was going on north on and she replied in the most beautiful saxon dialect haven't you noticed the walls gone to smash.

you mean. anything warm change. the mom and dad thing will seem king go or. at least you need 6 the kids. the 666. so we are just. at the middle of all this stink stick it's. ok and we have been learning. the need to greet these all of. the glaive. they are ups and downs. all of the let alone.

this. is. a. local. mobile.

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where is home. when your family scattered across the globe. cuts off the bones of the one who didn't listen to. to get a minimum of the. bush family from somalia live around the world. needed urgent assistance of. the family starts october. why subscribe to d.w. books your favorite writer is the image i like to see myself as the kid stein in the strange grown up world to the studio where your books aren't huge or. i'm not going to think the shit i just sometimes i am but i stand up in winter when the germans think stephen to the general culture of looking at the stereotype of quiet in here thinks he's a country that i don't blame. you did seem to pick for this drama there

you go it's cold out there bob i'm rachel join me to meet the gentleman from the w. . post. place. this is the w. news live from berlin protesters defined them as a band in hong kong again on sunday streets in downtown hong kong turned into a sea of umbrellas the symbol of the protest movement police deployed tear gas in several areas in a bid to stop attacks on shops and banks linked to mainland china also coming up to 2 nations go to the polls.